The flight attendant aboard a Bombardier Challenger 604 that crashed near Naples, Florida, on Feb. 9, 2024, helped passengers escape the burning aircraft by forcing open the baggage compartment door, an act that proved decisive after other exits failed. Both pilots were killed in the crash, but all three occupants—attendant Sydney Ann Bosmans and passengers Aaron Baker and Audra Green—survived.
Bosmans’ last-minute seat change and her knowledge of how to open the luggage hatch, despite no formal training on how to do so, may have saved lives after the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released documents detailing the accident, and transcripts illuminate Bosmans’ role in evacuating the two passengers.
According to the flight attendant’s interview with investigators, she made a critical choice in the final moments of flight: rather than remaining in the forward-facing jump seat behind the pilots, Bosmans assessed the situation and then moved to the aft-facing seat in the left forward cabin.
Bosmans, who had been trained through Aircare International’s FACTS program, recalled following training protocol as best she could, citing it as a factor in her decision to move. She knew that she’d be in a better position to brace and then to assess conditions outside the aircraft on the ground. “I made the decision to get up, and I do think that decision was really crucial in us surviving,” she reported, “because I know I wouldn’t have survived the impact if I was in that jump seat.”
After moving, she instructed the two passengers to brace, grabbing their ankles and positioning their heads correctly while keeping them as calm as possible. She described the impact as “like a slow-motion movie...shit was just flying everywhere,” and the cabin quickly filled with smoke and “neon flames.”
After the impact, Bosmans moved first to the forward cabin door, but was unable to open it. Acutely aware of the danger of smoke inhalation as well as the threat of fire, she quickly turned to the overwing exit, where the interior panel had already been removed. Bosmans was unable to open that door either, later noting, “The flames were actually coming up on that side...it probably would have been a lot worse if I got that door open.”
That left one remaining option: the baggage compartment door at the rear of the aircraft. Bosmans headed aft, where she found passenger Green asking for help and Baker already attempting to access the area. “He was kind of leaning out the baggage door, so I’m assuming that he was trying to get out that way already,” she said.
In near-complete darkness and with thick smoke filling the cabin, Bosmans entered the baggage compartment and attempted to operate the internal latch on the door. “I grabbed the lever on the door... pulled it inward... and I can’t get it,” she recalled. “This door is blocked and stuck.”
With the compartment cluttered by luggage and no flashlight available, she coordinated with Baker and Green to remove obstacles. “I started handing Aaron stuff, and I’m assuming he was handing Audra the stuff as well.”
Then came a sound she couldn’t explain. “I heard like a bang on the door...it’s super close to my face where I’m at. And I truly thought in that moment that there was another person on the other side of the door...like, trying to bang in the door for me because I saw it move. And, yeah, obviously, there was no one there, but at the time, like, that’s what I truly believed, and it kind of gave me that, like, extra, like, okay, I know I can get this door open.”
She continued handing items back to Baker and presumed he was passing them to Green, until she was able to clear enough space to open the hatch. Bosmans recalled that she was first to exit, with flames “coming underneath [her] butt.” After a delay in which she thought they might be retrieving belongings, the passengers followed, and Bosmans urged them to stay together and move away from the wreckage.
Baker confirmed her role in the escape. In his interview, he said, “I think we yelled to Sydney, ‘Let’s go through this door.’... Finally, she ended up getting that door open. And as soon as you open that door, I mean, you could see flames. And then we all jumped out.”
Bosmans had not received formal training on the use of the baggage compartment door. “We don’t get trained to open the baggage door. I actually just knew how to do that...I would kind of do it as a favor to the pilots,” she told investigators.
Her familiarity with the airframe, situational awareness, and decision to leave the jump seat before impact appear to have been key factors in the aftermath of the crash.
According to the NTSB, the twinjet (N823KD) lost both engines and descended into the median of I-75, around 3:10 p.m. Eastern time. The flight, operated under Part 135 by Hop-A-Jet Worldwide Charter, had departed Ohio State University Airport in Columbus, Ohio, and was en route to Florida’s Naples Municipal Airport.
The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. A preliminary report confirmed the flight crew reported low oil pressure before the dual engine failure and that the aircraft “struck vehicles and came to rest on the interstate where it was consumed by postcrash fire.” A final report has not yet been released.